A History of France

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In it, he re-examines the war in the context of global imperialism, looks at the influence of socialist and labour movements in home countries and pay particular attention to the role of non-Europeans in the conflict. Banks defines and applies the concept of communications in a far broader context than previous historical studies of communication, encompassing a range of human activity from sailing routes, to mapping, to presses, to building roads and bridges.

So here is my attempt to fill in the blanks…I want to talk about the wonderful Madame de Pompadour and the odious Madame de Maintenon; about Louis-Philippe, almost forgotten today but probably the best king France ever had; and that’s just for a start. Family welfare embraced an industrial model in which class distinctions and employer control predominated. France in the mid-nineteenth century was shaken by a surge of civic activism, the "resurrection of civil society" But unlike similar developments throughout Europe, this civic mobilization culminated in the establishment of democratic institutions. A bold new assessment of how the violence, racist nationalism, and grief aroused in 1914-18 changed the course of historyTo many, the years of the Great War seemed to signal Europe's collective suicide.In the five degrees of British nobility, viscount is less than duke, marquess, or earl, but higher than baron. This innovative social history also explores the impact of war and imperialism, the age-old tension between tradition and innovation, and the enduring use of food to prop up social and political identities. This book does not start with prehistorical France as the author aptly puts “Pre-history belongs to the Historians”. It was my only conversation with the great man; but unlike most of those he had with my father or Winston Churchill it could hardly have been more friendly.

In discussing the Royal Mistresses, he tells how being the King’s Mistress almost became an official court position.

I really enjoyed this warm and witty book, which takes the reader through the history of France, from the Roman invasion of Gaul to the end of the Second World War. It's learned, staggeringly so, while also being happy to acknowledge that it's skipping over minor Merovingians and Carolingians, or every back-and-forth of the Hundred Years War, and thank goodness for that (seriously, I did the later Carolingians at A Level and they're a right slog. At the unity rally in Paris on 11 January this year demonstrators carry placards that show the eyes and glasses of murdered Charlie Hebdo editor Stéphane Charbonnier. In this book, now available in paperback, he examines the history of France from the rise of the Capetians in the mid-tenth century to the execution of Joan of Arc in the mid-fifteenth.